Mitotic exit control of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ndr/LATS kinase Cbk1 regulates daughter cell separation after cytokinesis.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell division ends with destruction of a septum deposited during cytokinesis; this must occur only after the structure's construction is complete. Genes involved in septum destruction are induced by the transcription factor Ace2, which is activated by the kinase Cbk1, an Ndr/LATS-related protein that functions in a system related to metazoan hippo pathways. Phosphorylation of a conserved hydrophobic motif (HM) site regulates Cbk1; at peak levels in late mitosis we found that approximately 3% of Cbk1 carries this modification. HM site phosphorylation prior to mitotic exit occurs in response to activation of the FEAR (Cdc fourteen early anaphase release) pathway. However, HM site phosphorylation is not sufficient for Cbk1 to act on Ace2: the kinase is also negatively regulated prior to cytokinesis, likely by cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) phosphorylation. Cbk1 cannot phosphorylate Ace2 until after mitotic exit network (MEN)-initiated release of the phosphatase Cdc14. Treatment of Cbk1 with Cdc14 in vitro does not increase its intrinsic enzymatic activity, but Cdc14 is required for Cbk1 function in vivo. Thus, we propose that Cdc14 coordinates cell separation with mitotic exit via FEAR-initiated phosphorylation of the Cbk1 HM site and MEN-activated reversal of mitotic CDK phosphorylations that block both Cbk1 and Ace2 function.